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Water management increasingly focuses on tackling stormwater pollution to improve waterway health. Community members have a role in adopting pollution-reduction practices and supporting technologies such as water sensitive urban design. However, because communities are unfamiliar with these practices and technologies, little is known about how they make sense of these 'water sensitive innovations'. Drawing on Diffusion of Innovations theory, we conduct focus groups across different regions of Australia. Our findings indicate that key barriers to adoption included poor understanding of the relative advantage of these practices and technologies, and perceived poor compatibility with community members' lifestyle and local geography. In turn, appraisals of relative advantage were constrained by limited observability of stormwater pollution and the benefits that innovations generate for people and the environment. Our findings suggest engagement strategies should emphasize the relevance and advantages of water sensitive innovations, and help individuals visualize the intangible elements of stormwater pollution management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivering urban water security requires community engagement and participation. But, there are varying levels of interest in water-related issues within a population, the use of technical language can complicate effective communications, and achieving consensus between stakeholder groups can be difficult. This research used a survey of adults from Australia (n = 140) to show that community members can be very willing to engage in urban water security and especially desire active involvement in establishing objectives. However, they clearly demonstrate preferences for how they want to be involved and on which issues. Participants reported that they could understand complex 'level-of-service' objectives for water security, and urban water security priorities include water quality, reliability, accessibility and sustainable quantity of supply across both short and long timeframes. The findings support the call for public participation in sustainable urban water security management, and provide rich insights for water providers in urban locations across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As approaches to water management begin to encompass broader social and environmental goals, new technical terms have entered the field of water management. Effective communication across professional disciplines, and with community stakeholders, is essential for sustainable urban water management. However, use of technical terminology has the potential to undermine effectiveness of communication. We surveyed professionals and community members to examine these issues. Findings indicate that water-related technical terms may not be well understood by the community. Professionals most likely to overestimate community understanding were influenced by their own understanding rather than experience with communities. For communities, individuals with poor topic knowledge or low education were less likely to seek information about terms, highlighting the importance of reducing reliance on technical terms when collaborating with diverse stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable approaches to water management require broad community acceptance of changes in policy, practice and technology, which in turn, requires an engaged community. A critical first step in building an engaged community is to identify community knowledge about water management, an issue rarely examined in research. To address this, we surveyed a representative sample of Australian adults (n = 5172). Knowledge was assessed using 15 questions about impact of household activities on waterways, the urban water cycle, and water management. This survey also examined demographics, psychosocial characteristics, exposure to water-related information, and water-related behaviors and policy support. Participants correctly answered a mean of 8.0 questions (Range 0–15). Most respondents knew that household actions can reduce water use and influence waterway health, whereas less than one third correctly identified that domestic wastewater is treated prior to entering waterways, urban stormwater is not treated, and that these are carried via different pipes. Higher water knowledge was associated with older age, higher education and living in non-urban areas. Poorer water knowledge was associated with speaking a language other than English in the home. Garden size, experience of water restrictions, satisfaction, waterway use for swimming, and certain information sources were also associated with knowledge. Greater water knowledge was associated with adoption of water-saving and pollution-reduction behaviors, and support for both alternative water sources and raingardens. These findings confirm the importance of community knowledge, and identify potential subgroups who may require additional targeting to build knowledge and support for water management initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen engagement in water-related issues is vital for securing future water supplies and protecting waterways. In this paper we explore elements of engagement in water related issues -- what people know, what they value and their actions, and describe how these cohere in ways that can inform planning and interventions. Drawing on a nationally representative survey (N = 5194) and an interdisciplinary conceptual framework, this paper outlines how groups within the population differ on engagement in water-related issues. We identify five key groups: (i) the Disengaged, (ii) Aware but inactive, (iii) Active but not engaged, (iv) Engaged but cautious, and (v) Highly engaged. Homeownership, having a garden, being older, and life experiences such as experience of water restrictions had a significant impact on each of the engagement profiles. The utility of this analysis is demonstrated through finding that the groups have distinct views on two key policy examples, support for raingardens and willingness to pay for waterway protection. We suggest ways of targeting individual and community interventions to reach the identified groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]